Business
Senate Passes N306.4bn Budget For FCT
The Senate last Thurs day passed the 2012 harmonised Appropriation Bill of N306. 4 billion for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
It is made up of N42.6 billion for personnel and N35.5 billion for overhead costs while the balance of N228.2 billion is for capital projects.
Sen. Smart Adeyemi, Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, while presenting the budget, said that there was a surplus of N90.5 million and that there was insufficient Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from the territory.
Sen. Nenadi Usman (PDP-Kaduna) pointed out that in 2011, the projected revenue from the FCT was N52 billion, but that only N24 billion was realised.
Usman wondered how much would be realised from the N75 billion projected revenue in 2012.
She advised the committee to strengthen its oversight function to ensure that all loopholes were blocked to allow maximum collection of revenue.
Senate President David Mark said that the National Assembly had ensured the expeditious passage of the FCT budget and charged those responsible to ensure its maximum implementation.
“I think in that 2012, things must be done differently. We have expedited the passage of this budget for you. So, you must effectively implement it.”
In the budget, N141.1 billion was earmarked for resettlement and compensation, N543.658 million for the Education Secretariat and N409.8 million for the Sports Department.
Also, N118.8 million was voted for the Tourism Department, while N1.0 billion was for the FCT Water Board.
Meanwhile, the Senate has suspended plenary session for one week to give time for standing committees to conclude work on legislative matters before them.
The Senate would subsequently proceed on Easter break on April 5, to resume plenary on April 16.